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Thread: Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

  1. #1
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    Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

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    I've found this white fuzzy "ball" on the moss ball of my week-old shrimp tank. At first I thought it was some snail eggs, but upon inspection, it looks like some sort of organism itself. Does anyone know what is it? It seems to be alive, and would contract when touched.

    http://youtu.be/_bYL5x6FUWk

  2. #2
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    Re: Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

    Shrimp food covered by fungus ?

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    Re: Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

    Freshwater hydra maybe
    -Robert
    Aquascaping is a marriage between Art and Farming
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  4. #4
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    Re: Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

    Looks like hydra. There seems to be other pests in your shrimp tank. I believe you have overfeed your shrimps.

    http://www.planetinverts.com/are_hydra_harmful.html
    Inspired by Amano Limited by Yusof Ishak

  5. #5
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    Re: Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

    Thanks for the advice! The pest seems to be more circular than the hydra, and I believe they came from the pack of duckweed that I bought from a LFS. There are other pests like small swimming white dots, normally found in pond water. A few of my adult Rili and Sakura died on consecutive days, and i think the "hydra" could have caused their deaths.

    There are many shrimplets that hatched and I put filter sponge in the filter intake pipe to prevent the shrimplets from being sucked, and that compromised the filtration.

    I have removed the "hydra" from the tank, but the tiny swimming dots are still around. Do I need to remove those as well? So far the adults and shrimplets are doing well. I have an Otto and a blue-eye albino sucker in the 1.5ft tank too.

    Quote Originally Posted by bennyc View Post
    Looks like hydra. There seems to be other pests in your shrimp tank. I believe you have overfeed your shrimps.

    http://www.planetinverts.com/are_hydra_harmful.html

  6. #6
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    Re: Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

    The tiny quick swimming white dots should be copepods... they are harmless and common in most tanks, usually small fishes will hunt and eat them, but in shrimp tanks their population will tend to increase whenever there is excess food (since there are no predators around) so you'll see them around the tank.
    :: Urban Aquaria ::
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  7. #7
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    Re: Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

    Maybe you can try adding Indostomus paradoxus to keep the copepods in check?
    Inspired by Amano Limited by Yusof Ishak

  8. #8
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    Re: Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

    the white ball looks like a hydra. not the typical species we see.
    tiny white stuff flying around, seed shrimp or some copepods i believe.

    get a juvenile fish to eat them. baby endler works wonders for me.
    I am balding but i am still young!

  9. #9
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    Re: Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

    Thanks for all the tips and guidance! I've removed the hydras, and cut down the feeding. There are tons of copepods in the tank, but I guess I'll leave them alone for now, as there are at least 30 shrimplets, and I don't intend to disturb them till they grow bigger.

    I've found some stuffs that looks like snail eggs, but can't ID them. They are found on the ledge of the house ornament in the tank. Are they harmful, and shall I remove them too?




  10. #10
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    Re: Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

    On a side note, I've managed to get some fresh algae to grow on the roof, despite using a simple LED lamp. Will observe if the shrimps would eat them.

  11. #11
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    Re: Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

    i would remove it if its snail eggs

  12. #12
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    Re: Help needed to ID fuzzy "ball"

    If you're not keen on odd critters in your tank, best to just remove them... there will probably be more hidden around and under the substrate, but at least you've removed the visible ones.

    Btw, after you remove those egg clusters, put a few into a separate glass container and see what they hatch into, it'll be interesting to find out.
    :: Urban Aquaria ::
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